Macedonia, OH –Girl Scout Troop 50419 have volunteered with the
Prayers From Maria Foundation for three years, so when it came time to
complete their Silver Award project – the highest award a Girl Scout
Cadette can earn- this foundation was at the top of their minds as the
focus of their project. Girl Scouts give girls opportunities to make
the world a better place through opportunities like the Silver Award
where girls are tasked with identifying an issue they care about in
their community and then finding a way to enact positive change in it.

Helping Prayers From Maria is always at the top of their troop to-do
list each year. Multiple girls in this troop have lost family members
to cancer, so helping an organization dedicated to bringing awareness
about childhood cancer is something that they feel a personal
connection to and are passionate about. Emilee S. said, "All the
hard work my group put into this project was all worth it because we
helped bring awareness to childhood cancer."

Prayers From Maria relies on its team of dedicated volunteers to
maintain the sunflower field, lemonade stand and ice cream truck. The
girls found ways to add their touch to the organization. They built a
sunflower painted bench for visitors to reflect and admire the field
and made sunflower pins for the shop. They also decorated sunflower
crates for the foundation’s ice cream truck and then brought the truck
to their school as a part of a money-earning project of which the
proceeds ($800) were donated to Prayers From Maria.

Chloe S. explained that they learned a lot during this project
including “…how to work better as a team. We had to make decisions not
on what we wanted, but what would be best for the organization."
Girl Scouting teaches girls that they can solve problems using a
little imagination and determination as well as work together to
benefit a cause; something these caring and creative Girl Scouts
continue to do.